Rockn-Roll wrote on Jun 25, 2011, 11:08:Also, in most MMORPGs in-game items and character levels are achieved by winning battles, not by losing...if this is not true of EVE then this doesn't apply. But, if new players can buy-in with a top level character then players with less real money who are trying to earn the items through playing the game (the whole point of many MMORPGs) will have less difficulty because they will be fighting against those new players who though they don't have any skill are able to beat them down and prevent them from the fun activity of gaining levels/items simply because their character levels/items are more powerful.

I'm also finding it hard to understand the EVE economy. Some of you have explained a few things like real money can buy game time and applied directly to the player's account or added to the in-game economy as something called PLEX. It also sounds like there's something called ISK which can be created within the game and then traded in-game for PLEX which can then be applied to another player's account. It also sounds like both ISK and PLEX can purchase in-game items. And, those in-game items, as well as ISK and PLEX, can be sold by players at any price they choose...maybe even given away. I'm very sure that enterprising individuals have been selling ISK, PLEX, and in-game items for real money...there is absolutely no way for CCP to know (if it's done right).

ISK is Eve's currency, and they have an entire division set up to audit players accounts. Mysterious mass transfers of ISK get flagged and investigated.

Everything in Eve can be traded on the market, there are no Bind on Pickup items like there are in other MMO's. Everything is buyable through ISK and ISK can be earned quite easily in game with effort.

There are also no levels or xp to gain. You skill up at a set rate whether you're online or not, a new character that buys the latest things with ISK from selling PLEX isn't going to be able to use any of them for months. The only exception to this is that characters can be sold between players for ISK. So if you sunk a truly huge amount of money into selling PLEX you could theoretically end up sitting in a Titan with a massively skilled toon very quickly.

However you would then die. Even more quickly. Eve's learning curve is not gentle, it's world is not safe. Any player attempting to skip ahead via RMT without actually playing the game and making contacts would lose it all quickly.

Also skillpoints and flash equipment do not guarantee a victory. Unlike other MMO's the very best gear often just makes you a target, multiple billion ISK faction battleships are regularly destroyed by players in ships worth a few million, because those multi-hundred million ISK fittings on it will often drop as loot.

Sink real money into Eve in large amounts and you will lose it. I'd be very surprised if anyone who bought the monocles have done on any toon that will leave a station, because if they show up on your avatar in local there will be a fight to blow your ship up and kill your character.

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